9/11 run brings city together

Thousands joined the inaugural 9/11 Memorial 5K Run/Walk on Sunday, despite increased police security. The route started out at Pier 57 and wound around Lower Manhattan. From dedicated athletes to families with kids in tow, participants turned out to honor the victims and the first responders that poured into the area after the attacks. April 21 is the anniversary of the date that President Obama signed the law officially decreeing Sept. 11 to be a day of service and remembrance. Runners also paid tribute to Boston, wearing “I Run For Boston” t-shirts and pinning messages or black ribbons to their shirts. Security was tightened around the race following the April 15 bombing of the Boston Marathon. Following the race, visitors were invited to Family Day on Vesey St. between Church St. and Broadway to celebrate a sense of unity and the new generation of New Yorkers that will inherit it.

One Response to 9/11 run brings city together

For 30 years the Koenig Sphere stood in the center of the WTC plaza as a symbol of world peace. On 9/11, though bashed and torn, it emerged form the ruins as the only structure of the WTC to survive the attacks intact. It was thus embraced as an icon of the strength and endurance of the values attacked. It was installed in Battery Park as a"temporary" memorial. Yet today, while millions visit the 9/11 memorial at the WTC the Sphere still sits down at Battery Park, fenced off from the public in the middle of a construction site, a home for park pigeons.

Thousands have called for the return of the Sphere, including 9/11 family members, survivors, first responders and downtown residents. Please help bring the Sphere home! See facebook under causes, save the Sphere!
Michael Burke, savethesphere@gmail.com Thank you!